yetanothermagazine filmtvmusic feb2009 oscar, bafta & sag, oh my! award season is over with indie spirits, sags, baftas and oscars handed out. this season’s films that should have been “best picture” in this yam we review // benjamin button, slumdog millionaire, frost/nixon, milk, the reader, lee-hom wang, franz ferdinand, united states of tara and more // too weird for words our thoughts on coraline and other horrorific fantasy films// film We are trying to focus on certain Now, hopefully you will enjoy the best picture nominees - the curious case of benjamin button pg2 things, but we always – mostly I – newest issue with us commenting - frost/nixon pg3 end up with our thoughts elsewhere, on some “horrorific” films, in honor - milk pg4 - the reader pg5 so I would appreciate a little of the newest stop-motion animated - slumdog millionaire pg6 feedback... a little push by telling me film, Coraline. the should have been best picture pg7 what to include and what to avoid. award season breakdown pg11 Thank you to those who emailed coraline & other horrorific films pg12 me or messaged me with feedback, amywong // music here’s my address: lee-hom wang - xin tiao pg15 [email protected] p.s.: nate, you suck. xD franz ferdinand - tonight: franz ferdinand pg15 big bang - number 1 pg16 duncan sheik - whisper house pg17 Write anything you want. los fabulosos cadillacs - la luz del ritmo pg17 melinda doolittle - coming back to you pg17 grammy winners pg18 Moreover, thank you to those who tv contributed on this new issue. You united states of tara season 1 pg20 rock. battlestar galactica season 4 pg21 books buffy the vampire slayer season 8 pg22 Second issue of yam, another editor’s note! The first issue went better than we expected, I think we started off on the right foot, but we are still trying to work things out. from the editor // index // best picture nominees the curious case frost/nixon of benjamin Directed by: Ron Howard Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell, button Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall Written for the stage and adapted by Peter Morgan, Frost/ Directed by: David Fincher Nixon retells the story of a series of post-Watergate Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson interviews between talk-show host David Frost and Richard Nixon. Benjamin Button is loosely based on the 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald of a man experiencing life backwards by The fact that Ron Howard decided to make a new movie being born as an old man and growing younger in time. doesn’t mean that Frost/Nixon should be regarded as an instant masterpiece. Sure the film has great acting, and The film it’s exquisitely shot, but terribly long so make sure somewhat an interesting story. Every Howard films does, you have a permanent marker with you to draw a new which leaves us watching this thinking “okay... so what?”. crack on your backside. Despite that, Button was very enjoyable with its situations, characters, and performances. Nominations: Best Actor, Directing, Film Editing, Adapted If it should win any awards, it should get Best Makeup, Screenplay Best Cinematography and Visual Effects because it did an incredible job to enhance the film and avoided showing off by doing it. ¼ Nominations: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Makeup, Original Score, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay pg3 the reader Directed by: Stephen Daldry Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, David Kross Based on the book by Bernhard Schlink, The Reader explores the life of a law student who re-encounters with his former lover, an older woman defending herself against war- crime charges nearly a decade after WWII. Daldry re-appears after The Hours with this film that is often mistaken as a holocaust film. The Reader is more of an exploration of characters, the drama in their lives and their secrets. It never shows scenes of the war, so it’s not just a holocaust film. Dauldry actually paints an interesting picture by never telling you what to feel for the characters, whether you should feel sorry for Winslet’s character or hate her for working under Nazi rules. milk Nominations: Best Actress, Cinematography, Directing, Adapted Screenplay Directed by: Gus Van Sant Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile ½ Hirsch, Diego Luna Milk tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, who was assassinated alongside Mayor George Moscone by Supervisor Dan White from San Francisco. Van Sant has given better films, but still Milk doesn’t disappoint with a fantastic cast and a message. To tell you the truth, I never felt that this was a film about gay rights, but a film about politics, the people, and their struggles... Harvey Milk just happened to be gay. The end of the film is really powerful, and will most likely stick with you days after watching the film. Nominations: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Screenplay pg4 the should have been best picture When the Academy Awards decided to unveil their nominations last month, many cried foul play. Many wanted slumdog The Dark Knight among the Best Picture nominees, despite the lack of nominations in award shows like the Golden millionaire Globes, BAFTAs, and even the SAG. Directed by: Danny Boyle Here are some of the films, that we thought should have Starring: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Freida been included as Best Picture nominees. Pinto The only rule was naming an alternate film instead of one of Adapted from the novel by Vikas Swarup, Slumdog tells the the nominees. story of a Mumbai teen who becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and ends up arrested under suspicion of cheating. The film gets you into it as the protagonist tells his story in the form of flashbacks, motion blurs and some quick cuts. We can thank Boyle and his collaboration with Anthony Dod Matle, who also worked together on the 2004 film Millions. Add to that a fantastic screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, a doubt fantastic adult and young cast, and you got yourself a feel- good film that will get you to scream “pick up the phone!!” at Directed by: John Patrick the screen. Shanley Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Nominations: Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Seymour Hoffman, Amy Original Score, 2 Original Songs, Sound Mixing, Sound Adams, Viola Davis Editing, Adapted Screenplay Written, adapted and taken to the screen by John Patrick ¼ Shanley, Doubt tells the story of a nun confronting a priest who is suspected of taking advantage of two of his students. The film is not only taken to a different level by the way the play translated onto the screen, but has incredible acting by everyone in the cast. It earned four nods for acting (one Lead Actress, one Supporting Actor, and two Supporting Actress), and another nod for Best Adapted Screenplay, so why not a nod for Best Picture already? - amy Instead of: The Reader pg7 the should revolutionary road Directed by: Sam Mendes have been Starring: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates best picture Based on the novel by Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road follows Frank and April Wheeler in the seventh year of their marriage, a couple that seems the epitome of the 1950’s perfect American couple. They live in the suburbs with their two children, Frank commutes to New York to work at an office job, while April is an all-around housewife. But they’re not happy. Woefully this film was not recognized by any of the major award entities. This adaptation of Yates’ novel is not a film one can sit through easily -- it is, like Mike Nichols’ “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” a devastating portrait of two souls entrapped by an unhappy marriage, longing to get out but never being able to do so and taking it out on each other. DiCaprio gives what is probably his best performance and Winslet is, as always, a marvel to behold. The film stays with you long after see it. It’s a great accomplishment that the wrestler should have been recognized. - Dorothy Porker Directed by: Darren Aronofsky Instead of: Slumdog Millionaire Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood The Wrestler is centered on the life of a retiring professional wrestler trying to balance his love for wrestling, a paying the dark knight job, a blossoming romance, and the relationship with his Directed by: Christopher Nolan stranded daughter. Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan While nearly everyone praises Mickey Rourke for his Freeman, Cillian Murphy interpretation of Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, I also think that the rest of the actors and wrestlers involved in the film The Dark Knight starts off with Batman seeking the help worked well enough to make it great. of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, as they set out to eliminate organized crime that Doing a film about a professional wrestler past his prime is plagues Gotham. When it proves to be effective, a criminal very hard to pull, but Aronofsky (who should have gotten a mastermind known as The Joker decides to unleash chaos. nod for Best Director) managed to pull it off very well and even got people that despise pro-wrestling (the WWE style) Christopher Nolan virtually reinvents and invigorates the into praising this film very highly. - my85 superhero genre with this dark, gritty take on the Caped Crusader.